By Branko Marcetic  Nearly a year in, the war in Ukraine has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and brought the world to the brink of, in President Joe Biden’s own words, “ Armageddon .” Alongside the literal battlefield, there has been a similarly bitter intellectual battle over the war’s causes.

By Harsh Thakor  80 years ago, an event to place this was the turning point in shaping the course of the last century and amongst the great military achievements in history, literally saving the fate of mankind. February 2nd marked the 80th anniversary since the end of the Battle of Stalingrad with the complete victory of the forces of the Red Army and the crushing of the Nazi armies, something that paved tide in the war in favour of the USSR and more generally planted the seeds for the Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples. Stalingrad is where Nazi Fascism was nailed and spirit of liberation reached an unsurmounted height.

By NS Venkataraman*  All those who are keen that India should successfully set up massive green hydrogen projects to overcome the impending energy crisis, are greatly disappointed that Adani group has decided not to go ahead with the fully subscribed Rs.20,000 crore Follow On Public Offer.

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  On December 21, 2020, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution – co-sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – proclaiming February 4 as the International Day of Human Fraternity, inviting all Member States and international organizations to observe the International Day of Human Fraternity annually.

By IMPRI Team  The IMPRI Center for the Study of Finance and Economics (CSFE) , IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute , New Delhi hosted an interactive panel discussion on the topic “The Amrit Kaal and Union Budget 2023-24” on 2 February 2023, under the IMPRI 3rd Annual Series of Thematic Deliberations and Analysis of Union Budget 2023-24, as part of IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk . The session was chaired and moderated by Prof Nilanjan Banik who is currently serving as a professor at Mahindra University , Hyderabad, and is also a Visiting Consultant at IMPRI. The session was inaugurated by Ms Tripta Behera, a researcher at IMPRI by welcoming and giving a brief introduction to the chair and panelists of the discussion. The Panelists for the discussion were Mr TK Arun , who is a Senior Journalist and Columnist based in Delhi, Dr. Rajesh Shukla who is currently serving as Managing Director and CEO of People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) and Dr. S P Sharma , who is the Chief

By Thomas Franco*  It was only after the nationalisation of 14 banks on July 19, 1969, that the banks reached the common people. The main changes that were done included a shift from class banking to mass banking, a shift from big industries to agriculture, the development of small, medium, and micro enterprises, a shift from urban to rural areas, and a reduction in income inequality.  However, after 1991, the reversal began slowly and accelerated in 2014, when the NDA took over the government, with slogans like the government has no business being in business; the public sector was born to die, etc. They couldn’t privatise a public sector bank until now because of the UFBU’s strong opposition.  But using dubious methods, they have reduced the strength of the PSBs. As per the RBI data of March 2014, 82% of the branches, 65% of the loan limit, and 75% of the loans outstanding were with public banks.  The staff strength of PSBs (including SBI) was 844445 whereas private banks, including

The All-India Trade Union Congress Secretariat on the Budget 2023-24:  Unimpressive and hollow... *** Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has presented her last full budget, placing it with pomp as ‘amrut kaal budget’. As usual the bombastic jugglery of words and encomiums on the Prime Minister filled the substantial part of her budget speech. In sum, the budget woefully is hollow without addressing the crucial issues of employment, health, education, price rise etc,. Except that there are some handouts with an intention to woo the electorate, there is nothing aimed at moving towards a people centric economic growth and human development. The speech was laced with falsehood and jugglery. The estimations presented as achievements were far from true. The seven key priorities as listed in the budget such as the inclusive growth, reaching the last mile, youth power etc remain empty without any substance further. None of the real issues concerning people have been addressed. Trade unions hav

By Harsh Thakor  Ranajit Singh expired on 24-1-2023 at the age of 82 in Jaipur. For 4 decades he selflessly served the Communist movement as a central Committee member of CPI (ML) Ranajit Singh had a long history within the communist revolutionary movement. He got his baptism in his student days when entangling himself with the activities of SFI and slowly became important organiser. In 1964 left CPI (M) due to ideological differences and joined hands with newly formed committee in support of Naxalbari revolt. Subsequently he became one of the organisers. He along with other leaders started publishing "Rahul" as their theoretical organ. They started organizing workers, peasants and students and knit a strong revolutionary movement throughout the state of Rajasthan. In early seventies they were forced to o go underground. At the time of formation of CPI (ML) they joined the newly formed party but as soon as it tried to implement the line of annihilation programme they lef

By Jay Ihsan  Let us talk about truth and disinformation in this age of "new normal". Do they matter to the lay person? Or does copyright of "truth" and freedom to disinform belong to the powerful and elite? The Covid-19 injections had many people welcoming the narrative peddled by vaccine makers and governments. To date, more than 5.51 billion people the world over or 71.8 per cent of the word population have been jabbed with these mRNA vaccines. These vaccines, rolled out within months after the Covid-19 pandemic engulfed the world, were not without harm. In fact, giant pharma Pfizer knew its vaccines were dangerous and could hurt the human health and body. But in the face of the billions of dollars cascading into its coffers, Pfizer chose to feign ignorance. Moderna, AstraZenaca and Johnson and Johnson's vaccines were equally injurious, as all were responsible for the unprecedented deaths and permanent disabilities in those who took them. Strangely, there ar

By Harsh Thakor  Few batsmen struck a cricket ball with such vengeance or contempt as Clive Lloyd, who was the ultimate embodiment of power. Perhaps no left-hander batted more like Gary Sobers. Hard to think of any left hander in is time, with such wide range of strokes or at best batting in a more cavalier or imperious manner. At his best Clive could take domination to the scale rarely transcended and was a spectacle to witness.. It is hard to do justice to the joy Clive radiated out on the middle. Clive Lloyd nurtured and knitted a bunch of talented individuals to transform into possibly the best test team ever in the 1980's.Literally led a renaissance or gave a new dimension to Caribbean cricket. Never did West Indian cricket nurture such father figure.  Clive made a great contribution in elevating the morale or epitomising the spirit of the Afro-American West Indian Community and image of black people in the eyes of the white Community. As a cricketer he gave the ultimate knock

Statement by Fr Anthoniraj Thumma, Secretary, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Office for Dialogue & Desk for Ecumenism, Nellore, on observing World Interfaith Harmony Week and International Day of Human Fraternity: *** Greetings of Peace and joy to you from the CBCI – Office for Dialogue! Kindly allow me to bring to your notice the significant days related to interreligious dialogue occurring in the coming month of February 2023: 1. World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) – February 01-07: The World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly resolution (A/RES/65/5) on 20 October 2010 declaring the first week of February each year as World Interfaith Harmony week. In the resolution, the General Assembly, pointed out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace and established World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their Faith. Recog

Statement demanding investigation of Hindenburg Research Report on Adani Group, signed by Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress: *** In a shocking revelation Hindenburg Research, an investment research firm has published a research report on Adani Group claiming that the conglomerate has engaged in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”. Presenting evidence the report says that the seven listed companies of Adani Conglomerate are 85% over valued. Report of the Hindenburg research is of a serious nature. The report has come out with substantiating evidences of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. It goes on to allege that inflated stock values are pledged with the banks to raise loans. The report also claims to have investigated a complex web of offshore entities and shell entities linked to Adani group. If the allegations are proved to be true, the ramifications will be very serious given the size of stocks inv

By Bharat Dogra  Two most prominently stated facts about climate change are—firstly, it is extremely important to check climate change and secondly, that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced very significantly at a very fast pace, as scientifically determined. Both of these statements are absolutely correct. However if we confine ourselves just to these statements, then by themselves these can only give us a reductionist and isolationist understanding which, while technically correct, is not very helpful either for resolving this problem or for creating a better and safer world. There is an urgent need to reformulate the climate change framework, a task to which this writer has devoted much attention and effort in recent times. On the basis of this study and effort I would like to reformulate the basic issue as follows—Climate change is a critical survival issue which should be resolved on the basis of urgency by creating a world based on peace and disarmament, justice and equality

By Arhaan Baaghi  Various democratic student organizations (bsCEM, fraternity, DSU, SIO, AIRSO) had planned a screening of the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" in the Delhi University Arts Faculty, but the guards of the university and the Delhi police along with paramilitary forcefully detained the students just because we were trying to watch a documentary that scrutinizes the role of Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots. At first when the students started screening the documentary, the electricity of the department building was cut down. Students were brutally beaten by the police and university guards. Female students were also brutally manhandled and beaten. This whole incident shows the Brahmanical Hindutva fascist nature of the government and the university authority that is working as its puppet. An activist of bsCEM was manhandled by a male security guard, who tried to pull out his T shirt. Also various female activist were dragged by male security guards and their h

Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), writes to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission: *** On the eve of 61st Republic Day, I want to bring your urgent attention to a case of unsafe and insecure migration of villagers of Koiladangi of North Dinajpur district of West Bengal due to livelihood issues. Due to social and economic insecurity and degrading life conditions these villagers are being forced to undertake these migration efforts for a better life. But, due to the hazardous conditions under which these people are undertaking migration, instead of having a better life they are falling prey to numerous hostile situations. Thus, I would describe the situation to you, and demand for some positive and fruitful actions. I hope that after reading the details of the case you will take steps with utmost empathy to secu

By Harsh Thakor  Gundappa Vishwanath scaled zones in batting artistry or wizardry unparalleled amongst Indian batsmen. The best of his batting was a manifestation of the divine. He was also the epitome of cricketing sportsmanship. Sadly 40 years ago he unceremoniously bid farewell to the International cricket world, after the concluding test at Karachi in 1982-83., in January end. Very hard to visualise a character like Vishwanath being reborn today His memories are embedded in cricket lovers today when sportsmanship and grace have virtually been relegated to oblivion with the game of cricket turned into a commercial commodity. Today agro and unsporting behaviour is a routine feature Vishy shimmered cricket’s spirituality. His behaviour on the cricket field was grace personified, No one in his age defined cricket more as a gentleman’s game, than Vishy. Vishwanath could execute strokes that were surreal with his steel wrists. His strokeplay resembled the touches of a painter’s brush,

By BankTrack  Major global banks are standing in the way of climate targets with new data showing just 7% of their financing for energy companies went to renewables between 2016 and 2022. The data, produced for Sierra Club, Fair Finance International, BankTrack and Rainforest Action Network, indicates major failings by financial institutions to help meet global commitments on net zero emissions by 2050 since it shows shockingly low financial support through loans and bond underwriting for clean energy. It calls into question pledges from the industry-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), whose commissioned research shows low carbon energy investments need to account for at least 80% of energy investments compared to fossil fuels (4:1) by 2030 to reach climate goals. However, no bank looks set to reach this very minimum requirement. Across the world, the picture is dismal: at $181 billion Citi and JP Morgan Chase each pumped the most into the energy companies examined bet